


The Boy Learns

by Ladyhawk_lhflu



Series: The Two Sides of the Moon [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alpha Remus Lupin, Angst, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-08 17:04:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20839010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyhawk_lhflu/pseuds/Ladyhawk_lhflu
Summary: The morning after the moon is never nice. Except this time, Remus isn't alone.





	The Boy Learns

Waking up after the moon was excruciating. Every part of his body hurt, his mind was muddled from the magic that saturated every cell.

Remus staggered as he stood to look around the Shrieking Shack. This was the point at which he felt the most alone. He could survey the damage the wolf did on the small building and himself. When he did, he often wanted to cry. The building always came out of the ordeal more worn. And so did he. There were no mirrors in the Shack because the glass might harm him if the wolf broke it. But that wasn't the only threat to him. He could feel another small wound on his face and a few on his left arm from the wolf's claws. This moon was better than the last, but he didn't get out unscathed.

He waited as patiently as he could for Madame Pomfrey to unlock the door. But part of him was jumpy. Would they be in the infirmary when he got there? Would they wait until later? Would they show at all?

Right at that moment, his three other club mates were the most important people to him. This was the first time he had belonged to something that was really his. This club wasn't run by a teacher. It wasn't pushed on him by his mom so that he'd get his nose out of his books every once in awhile. In part, the Marauder club was *for* him. That thought made him giddy. He belonged to something!

But he tried not to get his hopes up about the others. He had seen other people swear to be best mates forever then move onto new friends a week later. He didn't think the others were like that, but he couldn't swear to it, especially given what they knew about him. Fear did strange things to people, even ones with the best of intentions. This went around and around in his head until it made him a little dizzy.

His dad had told him that people can feel burdened by friendship, especially when their friend was difficult. Of course, the wolf made Remus a difficult person. So his father had told him that he needed to be helpful to his friends and try not to trouble them.

But when his friends found out that he was a werewolf, he seemed to trouble them. So he convinced himself that his friends wouldn't come by the time Madame Pomfrey arrived. Luckily, she distracted him from his musings by immediately putting salve on the wound on his face and the larger one on his arm.

"It looks like you don't need to spend time in the infirmary, unless you want to rest there," the medi-witch said with a satisfied nod. "A bit of support helps, doesn't it?"

Remus nodded. "Can I stay in the infirmary for an hour, just so I can sleep? Everyone's getting up for breakfast soon." He resisted adding that he didn't want to go to his dorm room and see the support that had helped him be withdrawn.

Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Of course. If you decide you want to stay longer, I'll find your roommates so they can bring your work."

Remus shook his head. "I wouldn't want them to go through too much trouble." He couldn't help but repeat the words his father had instilled in him. He was trouble. He was a burden on people. Because of his condition, he had to work hard to make sure he wasn't too dependent. Others were not responsible for him, nor should they have to help.

His mother helped because she wanted to, his dad made sure he knew that. But if she ever stopped, he didn't have the right to say a word about it. Because he would then be burdening her.

Madame Pomfrey's help was required to stay at the school. But if she withdrew it, his father had pressed on him that he was to leave the school immediately.

But the medi-witch just shook her head as she saw the sad expression on his face. "Professor Dumbledore told me that Lyall was pushing his own guilt onto you. You're allowed to have friends, just like everyone else. You are not a bad person, no matter what your father believes."

As they walked along the tunnel underneath Hogsmeade and the school, Remus pondered this. He knew that his Dad was arguing with a werewolf when he was bitten. And his Mom always glared at Dad when he gave Remus the werewolf lectures. But Remus had been taught to respect his elders, maybe a little to well. So he never questioned the actions between them that many adults might call a nonverbal fight. And he never asked others for help with his condition.

Another boy knew that Remus was wrong not to ask for help. The one walking behind him and Madame Pomfrey in that tunnel. As James shifted his dad's invisibility cloak to make sure it didn't fall off him, he worried. The lycanthrope's father wasn't as bad as Orion Black, but he had made it hard for his son.

Everyone needed someone. James' parents had taught him to be that someone for any friends he made. Because if you're a friend's someone, they're also yours when you need. He had known Sirius had needed someone almost from the beginning of school. So he had been there. And Sirius had been there in return, when he didn't make the Quidditch team second year, when he needed help with Transfiguration because he had become overconfident in his ability and didn't practice, when he tried to talk to a Ravenclaw girl to ask her to go to Hogsmeade with him and completely screwed it up.

Remus had been there for him and Sirius too, even though they hadn't asked. Both of them would have failed History of Magic last year without the other boy's help. And every time Sirius came back from Grimmauld Place with a black eye or shaking in exhaustion, Remus was by their sides, helping to patch Sirius up.

So of course Remus deserved help getting patched up too, no matter what his father thought. James heaved a heavy sigh at the foolishness of adults as he watched Remus settle into a bed in the corner of the infirmary.

Remus froze at the sound that seemed to come out of nowhere, but waited until Madame Pomfrey pulled the curtain around the bed before reaching out blindly at his side for the piece of cloth he knew was there.

He grabbed the cloak and slowly removed it from the form underneath. "James?" he whispered, shocked that the other boy was already near.

James nodded. "Sirius was going to come too. But I didn't want him shouting if you were really hurt this time. He nearly got us thrown out of the library when he realized that you were actually here for four days last month."

Remus didn't want his friends to be thrown out of anywhere, so he insisted that, "It was a lot better last night. All I got was a few scratches. He doesn't have to be here for that."

James knew Sirius; he knew Sirius was quickly becoming devoted to Remus. So James had already interfered for the sake of his friends. "He'll be here. I just wanted some time to calm him down if it was bad. I told him to go to breakfast and I'd report back before we all came without hiding. He said something about saving you some toast and marmalade."

Tears pricked the lycanthrope's eyes at their consideration. "The house elves make the best marmalade. I don't suppose he can get me some tea to go with it," he said wistfully. He had promised himself he would ask nothing of them, but tea and marmalade toast had been his after-moon breakfast at home. He had many memories of his mom comforting him while he sipped his tea.

"Peter is handling that. Evans let him borrow a muggle container that keeps things hot. And it has a screw tight lid, so even he can't spill it."

By this time a few tears had leaked down the scarred cheeks. James patted his hand. "You rest. I'll go check on your breakfast."

A moment later, Remus was alone.

But he only got about twenty minutes sleep before Peter walked in holding a cylindrical container tightly in two hands in front of him. "Here's your tea, Remus. Be careful with the container. If it breaks, you will have silver in your tea. And I don't want to poison you." 

"That's not real silver, you prat," Sirius said as he came in behind Peter, a covered plate in his hand. "It's some sort of coating. Muggles use it in place of a warming spell."

Remus had to chuckle. He could see that neither of them knew what a vacuum flask was, something that his uncle explained to him before he went to Hogwarts. "It's coated glass," he said softly. He carefully took the flask from Peter, along with the teacup he had put on top of it. "It just keeps the heat from leaking out."

"See? Our Moony knows everything." Sirius smiled at Remus as he sat on the bed next to weary legs. Then he handed Remus the plate of marmalade toast and poured the boy a cup of tea.

"Do you know about the Goblin Rebellion of 1784? I have to write an essay on it," Peter asked.

Before Remus could answer, Sirius snapped, "You can ask after he's rested."

Peter flinched a little, but nodded agreeably. "Sorry, Moony. You don't look any different than yesterday, so I forgot."

Sirius rolled his eyes, as what Peter forgot was the reason they scrounged up breakfast for their friend and trekked to the infirmary after James said it was safe to. Remus just shrugged. The fact that Peter forgot made him feel normal for a moment.

Then he looked Sirius in the eye. The dark haired boy pushed the plate closer to his hand. "You need to eat. You must be starving. The book says it takes a lot of energy."

"Most of it is magical energy," Remus said bemusedly. "But I am hungry."

Sirius sounded like James did while Sirius was recovering from being at home. Calm, matter-of-fact, like everything was normal. When Remus had asked about it, James said he did it so that Sirius knew everything was normal *with them* no matter what his parents had said or done.

Sirius seemed to be doing the same for him. Even when the wolf pulled at him to touch Sirius for a moment, all Sirius did was bow his head and let the wolf play with his hair.

And this time, Peter was calm. Remus knew Peter was scared of the wolf. But the smaller boy just moved a step away so the wolf couldn't touch him and let Sirius handle it. As if it was normal for the wolf to come out for a moment.

"I think he's settled now," Sirius whispered as the wolf faded back and Remus took a bite of his toast.

Peter nodded. "He should be pretty quiet for the next two weeks. But if he isn't, look in your trunk. We got two boxes of chocolate frogs to help keep him settled."

"And we got another box of magical first aid in case next month is rougher," Sirius said. "James is checking one of the potions in the kit. He said that he may have to brew another one, as it normally contains silver. He'll be by to help us take you back to the room when he's done. We went around sealing all the silver items we had in protective sacks last night so you wouldn't touch them accidentally. But we forgot about the wound potion."

That is when Remus learned that their definition of normal had changed. Normal now was protective sacks for things he couldn't touch. Normal was Peter calmly getting out of the wolf's reach when it took him over, without coming down on Remus's head like his father did. Normal was James being the guard for the Alpha in the room. Normal was the gentle look in Sirius' eyes that said he was glad to be right where he was, by the lycanthrope's side.

Remus could feel the wolf accept this as his due. However, the boy had to examine it a little. Only his mom had given him this kind of acceptance before. 

But when Remus finished his toast, Sirius grabbed the cloth napkin he had brought along, and cleaned the other boy's hands. Then he turned one over and kissed Remus's wrist gently.

The wolf surged forward, wanting to grab Sirius. But Remus fought it back as James came through the curtain.

"Sirius," Remus hissed softly. "Don't tempt it. It wants you."

"I know. I don't mind. I'll be glad to give him what he wants if you decide you want me too." Sirius just shrugged.

Neither Peter nor James looked upset at the rather forward statement Sirius just made. James simply said, "Let's get you settled in your own bed. That's a better place for you two to have this discussion."

Peter added, "We may have to search the library again. That book didn't have anything on werewolf sex."

Remus blushed, but James just waved a finger at Sirius. "Don't make any offers to either of them until we know what you have to do so you don't hurt Remus."

Sirius helped Remus out of bed and into the slippers Remus had given Madame Pomfrey the night before. "I won't." Then he changed the subject as they headed towards Gryffindor Tower. "Do you think you'll be ready Friday night, Moony? We made some more notes while you were gone. We're just about ready for the plan."

So they started whispering about the details of their first prank as they headed to their room. Nobody who passed them thought anything about them other than 'There go the Gryffindor fifth years, as inseparable as always.'

Perfectly normal.

Because the Marauders believed it was perfectly normal for its members to be who they were. Remus learned this was part of what was quickly becoming the Marauder code when James gave him a book he had gotten by owl post from his father. 'Werewolves: Packs and Mating Practices.'

Remus also learned that being a werewolf had its advantages. Because of his acute hearing, the Marauders were able to convert all the Great Hall tables to red and gold and escape before Filch came to investigate.


End file.
